Camier sees off Ellison for Thruxton win

31 May 2009

Leon Camier has extended his lead in the ViSK.com British Superbike standings to 33 points after claiming a fifth win in seven races at a sunny Thruxton.

The championship leader had been the big favourite to romp to victory following a dominant performance throughout practice and qualification and while team-mate James Ellison kept him honest for part of the race, Camier wouldn't be denied.

As has been the case at other events this season, Camier didn't get the best of starts and would find himself down to fourth as the riders rounded Allard for the first time. In fact, save for Ellison who jumped straight into the lead, Camier's fellow front row starters Gary Mason and Michael Rutter also bogged down, gifting second to the fast-starting Stuart Easton and third to Honda counterpart Glen Richards.

Even so, Camier wasn't wasting time in working his way to the front, passing Richards by the end of the opening lap and immediately setting about putting pressure on Easton for second. Although the Hydrex Honda rider put up stern resistance through the fast stretches, a dive down the inside at Cobb would see Camier up to second by lap three.

Latching onto Ellison and putting on a menacing display as he followed entirely different race lines to his rivals, Camier would need just a further lap to assume a lead he wouldn't lose to the chequered flag.

Even so, despite the expected result, Ellison was still able to make a race of it, the Donington Park winner proceeding to harass the younger man for much of the race. Briefly dragging along Easton as the top three broke away from the pack, Ellison would remain within a second of Camier until the closing stages before simply settle for second position.

Marking the second Airwaves Yamaha 1-2 of the season, it moves Camier further ahead in the British Superbike standings, while Ellison too has consolidated his second as he moves into three figures for the first time this year.

Fading from his early charge, Easton was still comfortable on the way to a fourth podium of the season in third, seven seconds behind the leaders but four seconds up on an enjoyable tussle for fourth place.

The position had been held by Richards from the end of the first lap, the HM Plant Honda rider putting some air between himself and those behind, which initially included Simon Andrews, Ian Lowry and Karl Harris.

Lowry was the man on the move during the early stages, climbing to a high of fifth position having dispersed a series of rivals on the Relentless Suzuki. However, the Ulsterman's charge would falter soon afterwards as he rapidly began slipping down the order, eventually crossing the line in 19th position.

With Karl Harris enduring similar issues as he fell to what would be 11th by the chequered flag, it freed up Andrews to launch a late attack on Richards for fourth position, one that included a breathtaking manoeuvre on the outside at Church on the penultimate lap.

While Richards would get him back straight away, the pair would resume their last lap exchange from Donington Park – also for fourth -, with Andrews once again prevailing with a solid pass at Campbell as Richards' tyres visibly began to fade.

The Australian's demotion wouldn't end there though as he would also be overtaken before the end of the lap by the looming Rutter. Having made a tardy first start on the Worx Crescent Suzuki, Rutter gradually worked his way back into contention to snatch fifth from Richards on the sprint down to the final corner chicane.

It meant Richards would be forced to settle for sixth, one position ahead of team-mate Josh Brookes, who endured a somewhat lonely race in seventh place.

Just behind, John Laverty secured his best result of the season in eighth place on the Buildbase Kawasaki after resisting the race long attentions of Mason, the privateer never really recovering from an error on the opening lap when he ran wide at Club.

Julien Da Costa worked his way up the order to claim tenth at the expense of Harris, while Graeme Gowland, Jason O'Halloran, Atsushi Watanabe and Cup rider Tom Tunstall completed the points.